Welcome to Week 7 and Leviticus

Well done for making it so far. Or if you’re just joining Year in the Bible, welcome along. In the New Testament we continue in Luke and we’ll keep reading psalms most weeks. But things are shifting in the Old Testament. We’ve finished Genesis and Exodus and that brings us to Leviticus.

Maybe you’ve planned your vacation to coincide with this week because the thought of reading through Leviticus is too much to bear. But I want to slow you down at jumping to such conclusions. (And worst case scenario, if it is that tough, it’ll be done in two weeks!)

I found an article at bible.org that I think is helpful and it addresses directly some of our objections to reading Leviticus. Ever thought that Leviticus is too hard to understand, that it is too dull, or that is has nothing to do with the world after Christ? If so, then read the article.

He makes some challenging points, such as in response to feelings that Leviticus is too boring, he says “our culture has concluded that anything which is not entertaining is not worth listening to.” Leviticus may not jump off the page like some of the passages from Genesis and Exodus, which are full of action, but that does not mean it is irrelevant for us now or that we shouldn’t study it. Speaking of relevance he makes a good point that we’re too interested in what is pragmatic for us in the immediate, lacking the patience to read in obedience to God’s invitation and trust that God has value in every word–even if it is not practical in the here and now.

Read this week with patience and perseverance, and I hope you can approach with renewed interest a book that is too often overlooked.